Chapter 47 - Completion
Before I could loose my patience and threaten him again, Leaf reached over. She gently held my hand, squeezing it softly to catch my attention. She gave me a quiet, subtle signal, gesturing for me to just acquiesce and give in to his petty demand for the time being. She whispered that doing this would at least stop him from losing his mind and going completely mad so early in our journey.
I took a deep breath and forced myself to relax.
"Fine," I said, looking over at him with zero emotion. "You will get the biggest room in the keep. Just stop yapping and eat."
Despite agreeing to it, I knew deep down that this arrangement wasn't going to last. Viserys was not going to be a part of our group for much longer in the grand scheme of things.
The genes and legacy of the Mad King was far too potent in his veins and the signs of that inherited insanity were already seeping out through every single thing he did.
Once we finally completed our tense meal, everyone rose from the table and went right back to our respective tasks.
I headed upstairs to the floor above, where the structural damage to the fortress was significantly worse. In many spots on the upper level, the roof had caved in entirely, leaving the rooms open to the sky and filled with snow.
Despite the scale of the destruction, I knew it would actually take me far less time to fix than the ground floor did, simply because I was getting a better feel for the layout and how to use the magic appropriately.
While I focused on the upper rooms, the girls went back outside to continue their work on the grounds. Because their tasks involved meticulous decorating, landscaping, clearing away centuries of overgrowth and arranging things, it naturally took them a lot more time than it took me.
My job was very straightforward. I was just repairing the broken stone walls and replacing the rotted wood. Within a couple of hours of focused effort, I had completely rebuilt and repaired the entire upper floor of the keep.
With the interior repair finally completed, I let out a long sigh of relief.
I had been working for hours since morning and although the magic made the repairs much easier than normal work would have been, it was still tiring to concentrate on every wall, pillar, beam and roof.
I stepped outside to see what the girls were doing. I had not seen anything they had done yet and I wanted to know how far they have progressed.
It turns out that they had done a pretty good job.
Most of the boundary walls around the keep were already repaired. The walls now formed a proper perimeter around the holding, giving the place a much more secure feeling.
But the biggest change was in the yards.
Until morning, the place had been covered in bushes, weeds and overgrowth. Now, it looked like it was a properly mowed and maintained lawn.
The waist high grasses and bushes were gone. Now, the grass was short and even. They were also only a couple of inches high. I could not even see any signs of the work that must have been done to clear it, like any leftover cut grasses or removed bushes.
There was also a refreshing scent in the air. I crouched and rubbed my hands on the grass. It was not the same kind of grass which was previously here. It was something different and new. It was also the source of the refreshing fragrance in the air.
The land was now even, with no stones or pebbles scattered around. All the ditches and furrows made by years of rain and snow were now levelled. The whole area smelled fresh and clean, as though the land itself had been given a new life around the keep.
I looked toward the sides of the holding.
The girls had started making several small gardens and orchards. Different kinds of flowers were growing in carefully arranged sections.
I honestly had no idea how Leaf had managed it.
Some of the flowers looked as though they had been growing there for years, even though only a few hours had passed. The weather wasn't exactly ideal for growing plants either.
Yet somehow, Leaf had managed it. It just showed how strong her connection with plants and life was and how experienced she was in the matter of plants.
I looked at the flower beds more carefully and found that they were not arranged randomly. There was clearly some kind of pattern to it, some kind of design.
I could not understand it yet. Maybe I would ask them once they were finished.
For now, I did not want to interrupt or disturb them.
They were standing together on one side of the yard, talking animatedly. Daenerys was with them too. What surprised me was how naturally she had joined the group and how she was genuinely involved in the conversation.
There was hardly any hesitation now that existed until yesterday.
The awkwardness from earlier had also already disappeared and she seemed genuinely interested in what the others were doing.
It was good to see her happy and doing things which she should have done at her age. She had been through enough already. Even in the future, she did not had any of this liveliness.
Having people around her who treated her normally would probably help her more than anything else. In the story I remember, everyone just wanted to use her and manipulated her in every way they can. They lied and schemed continuously around her.
But not anymore. Now, she was with us. She has me.
I stopped that trail of thought and snapped back to the present. I left them to their discussion and continued walking. I decided to check the area around the heart tree, where we arrived yesterday.
The weirwood stood a short distance from the holding, its pale trunk standing out against the surrounding forest. I want to clear the area around it maintain it properly.
When I arrived there, I found that Leaf had already taken care of it. The grass around the tree was short and neat, just like the rest of the yard.
There was also a small open space around the base of the tree. It was not large but it was enough for several people to sit and gather around.
The arrangement looked deliberate as a natural gathering place.
People could sit here quietly or even a group could meet here. It could even become a place where we came to relax and loosen up.
I walked closer to the weirwood and looked up at its branches. The carved face watched over the clearing as it had probably watched over this forest for generations.
I placed a hand against the pale bark.
The familiar sensation of connection and presence all around the continent strengthened almost immediately. Even without directly sitting at the roots or being in contact with the weirwood, I could see and hear through them. If I wanted to do more, only then was direct contact necessary.
I smiled, happy at my gradual progress. The changes in the keep also was the reason for my happiness.
Yesterday, this entire place had been nothing more than a ruined holding surrounded by wilderness. Now it was beginning to feel like something else.
Like a home. A place where we could actually stay.
I looked back toward the keep. The walls were standing, gardens popped up and growing, and the roof was repaired.
We still had a lot of work ahead of us and many issues to address. And the main headache inducing issue is Viserys.
Throughout those hours, Viserys wandered around aimlessly. Sometimes he would come upstairs and stand in the doorway, silently watching me work with a scowl on his face.
Other times, he would drift outside to the courtyard where the girls were busy working, hovering around them like a ghost.
But no matter where he went or who he was hovering over, he didn't offer a single piece of constructive help, a helpful hand, or a positive word of advice to any of us. He just watched, a bitter king without a kingdom, completely blind to the world changing around him.
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End of Chapter 47 - Completion